Early Career
Payne was born in 1752, son of Ralph Payne, Chief Justice of St Kitts and his wife Margaret née Gallaway. His elder brother Ralph Payne would later become Baron Lavington. Payne was educated at Dr. Bracken's Academy in Greenwich and later attended the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth to train as an officer. During this time he became friends with Hugh Seymour Conway, with whom he had a lifelong friendship and close naval partnership. In 1769 he left the academy to join HMS Quebec.
Quebec served in the West Indies but after only a few months Payne moved to the ship of the line HMS Montagu before returning to Britain in 1773 aboard the sloop HMS Falcon. Payne briefly joined HMS Egmont but soon was attached to the large frigate HMS Rainbow for a cruise to the Guinea Coast. In 1775 he was back in England, where he passed for lieutenant aboard Egmont.
Read more about this topic: John Willett Payne
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